The apostle Paul stated in Romans
1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first
and also for the Greek.” A question: Are you ashamed of the
Gospel or of any
part of it. For instance, are you ashamed:
- Of the Christ
whom
the Gospel proclaims? Of His claims to be the Son of God? Of
His virgin
birth? Of any of His commands?
- Of the Gospel
message? It is God’s power to save, yet many are
ashamed to preach it,
choosing rather to preach feelings, men’s doctrines, and some
would rather tell
deathbed stories than to preach the Gospel.
- Of the plan of
salvation outlined in the Gospel? In that plan, God has
ordained that if
one desired to be saved from past sins with the hope of heaven, he must
believe, repent of past sins, confess Christ as Lord and be baptized
for the
remissions of sins. Many are ashamed to preach and follow this simple
plan.
- Of
the hope which the
Gospel offers. It nothing short of amazement that some people
are actually
ashamed to admit that they want to go to heaven when life is over.
Are you ashamed of ANY of these things? If so, shame on
you!
Are You In or Out?
By
Ernest S. Underwood
Did you ever notice how in His Word God does not do
anything on what we might call a scale of 1 to 10?
With Him it is either/or. Jesus taught that one is either for Him or against
Him. He stated that one is either on the road that leads to life, or the road
that leads to destruction. One is either building on the Rock or he is building
on the sand. To God, a thing is either good or evil, and He warns about calling
evil good. In each of these, we notice that there is no neutral or middle ground.
There is yet another example. One is either in Christ
or dead in his sins. Either he is in the place where God adds the saved or he
is on the outside. In Revelation 22:14-15
it is written, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have
the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and
idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”
Where are you? Can you go the Scriptures and show by
them that you are where they tell you that you should be?
